A Quiet Simple Life | Sallie Borrink

For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans 6:23

A Quiet Simple Life

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Sallie Borrink

A Couple of Full Days


Yesterday I had my 10 week appointment and did not have an ultrasound.

🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁

Apparently there was a misunderstanding. David and I understood the doctor to say that we would have another ultrasound at the next appointment and then we would have a picture to take home. (The ultrasound at six weeks didn’t show enough to hang on the fridge!) He MEANT the next ultrasound at around TWENTY WEEKS!!!! BUMMER!!!!!

We were obviously disappointed and I think he felt badly about it. (At least I hope he did!)

Lesson #1 with new doctor: Do not assume you understand each other. I’m going to be a lot more explicit with my questions and answers from now on.

In the meantime I’ve been trying to keep up with all the shopping recommendations from yesterday’s entry. Wow!!! So much good information! Thank you!

I had to finish proofreading a psychology textbook that has to be in Phoenix tomorrow. I got that done and shipped out in time.

Today our realtor came over to give us an estimate on our house. We are tentatively thinking about trying to buy a bigger house in the next couple of months, but are largely undecided. I’m not sure if I want to move in the summer while pregnant. We’re not sure if we want a bigger mortgage payment. Do you have any idea how hard it is to know what to spend on a house when you are self-employed and have no idea how much you will make from year to year?

On the other hand, if we don’t move, I lose my office to the nursery. This three bedroom house seemed more than adequate when we bought it. David was working a full-time job and I worked part-time from home. We shared an office in one bedroom. Six weeks after we moved in, David’s company went through some major downsizing so he was let go and ever since he has worked at home full-time. We shared an office for awhile, but eventually went to two offices because we work so differently. Neither one of us can see us going back into the same office now because we just have too much work “stuff”.

So we are exploring our options. And praying.

Tomorrow I plan on blogging on something I have discovered is far, far worse than morning sickness. Stay tuned!

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Tips For Registering For Baby Gifts and Baby Showers


I know it is early to be thinking about this, but I can’t help it! We won’t register yet for a few months, but I want to know.

What do I need for this baby?

All of you experienced ladies out there, please tell me.

  • What should I register for?
  • What don’t I need?
  • What am I likely to forget?

I will say up front that I am not the minimalist type so I know I want more than a car seat and diapers.

  • What is your favorite non-necessity that you wouldn’t want to be without?
  • What did you receive as a gift that you thought you would never use and now you would replace it the same day if it broke or was lost?
  • What were you sure you would want and you ended up selling it on eBay?

And while we are on the topic of shopping, where are the best places to look for nice but not outrageously expensive maternity clothing? I realized a few weeks ago that I have no idea where the maternity departments are in the stores around here. Good places online to shop? Great tricks or insights when shopping for maternity wear? I will have some casual things for around the house, but I also want some nice things for church and business meetings over the summer.

I look forward to gleaning from your collective wisdom!

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“Pride and Prejudice” (2005) Review


David and I did not see the newest Pride and Prejudice when it came out in the theater last fall. I was not terribly impressed by the trailers I saw and am not inclined to go to the theater and drop $20 for a movie I’m not totally convinced is worth the money.

However, after it had been out a while I read several reviews online by fellow bloggers. Most of them indicated that while it could never live up to the A&E production, this one was good in its own ways and had something to offer. So when the movie was released on DVD last week, David and I reserved a copy. I had a guarded optimism that perhaps the trailers had misled me and I would enjoy this version even if it couldn’t compare to the other. I went into it with a genuinely open mind, ready to enjoy at least some of it.

Always trust your first instinct.

Several years ago CBS had a TV series called Christy based on the novel of the same name by Christian author Catherine Marshall. I loved it! I own the series on VHS and would gladly pay to convert to DVD if it came out. At the end of what turned out to be the final season there was a huge cliffhanger regarding whether Christy would marry the minister (the safe choice) or follow her heart and hold out for the doctor. Despite the biggest letter writing campaign CBS has ever seen, they canceled the show. It was very sad to not have that storyline resolved. However, a few years later someone decided to do a follow-up movie and resolve that storyline. David and I both looked forward to the movie, but we felt a little apprehensive because most of the major characters had been recast. The original actors and actresses were fabulous and it was hard to picture someone else in the role, but we were hopeful.

We were right. It was EXCRUCIATING to watch. It was so poorly done it was literally physically painful to watch it. I felt like screaming because I thought it would never end. I don’t think I’ve ever felt that way about a movie before or since.

Well, until I watched the new Pride and Prejudice.

Twenty minutes into it my hope was fading fast that it would improve. An hour into it I could have turned it off except for the fact that if I didn’t watch the whole thing I couldn’t write my scathing review. So I stuck it out, watching the counter on the DVD player move SLOWLY forward. Part way through the second half I started laughing out loud and there was nothing funny going on in the movie. David asked me why I was laughing. I told him I had just thought of the perfect quote to use in the opening of my blog post on this movie.

“Damn tedious waste of an evening…”
Mr. Hurst, Pride and Prejudice (A&E)

Now to be fair, I thought that maybe I didn’t like the movie because it was so short. I mean, they FLEW through some parts and left others out completely. So maybe I was expecting too much from a two hour movie. But, no, that’s not the case. Two good examples of two hour movies that do a great job with their novels are Emma Thompson’s Sense and Sensibility and Winona Ryder’s Little Women. Those movies are incredibly well done within the two hour time constraints. So it wasn’t just that the movie was too short.

It was just poorly, poorly done.

So how did I dislike the movie? Let me count the ways. But before I do that, may I point out something?

David happened to pick up a copy of USA Today the other day (we never read it) and it had a cover story about the production company that produced P&P. When I looked at the article, it all came together why I disliked this production so much. The same company that produced P&P produced the homosexual-themed Brokeback Mountain. I sincerely believe after watching this P&P that there was no intention of producing a movie that was accurate to the storyline. It was a production with an agenda and that agenda appeared to me to be to make this P&P the antithesis of the A&E production. In other words, take everything good and positive and beautiful about that production and replace it with what is ugly, slothful, and negative.

So here is what I liked:

Elizabeth’s hairstyle at the Netherfield Ball

That’s it. I’m not joking. There was NOTHING else I liked about the movie. Well, ok. The pond scene was pretty even if it was inaccurate.

Here is what I didn’t like.

The casting – Could the characters be any less likable? With the possible exception of Mary, every casting was vastly inferior to the A&E version. They were all flat and boring.

What happened to the Wickham storyline? It is a key part of the entire book. They could have added even ten minutes to the movie and at least gotten enough of it in there to make sense. Unless you’ve seen the A&E version or read the book, this part of the movie would have made absolutely no sense.

THE STRINGY HAIR. Good grief! Give them a comb!!!!!!!!! If I had to look at one more set of stringy bangs I thought I was going to throw something at the TV!!!!!

Charlotte Lucas? Hello? What is up with that major storyline rewrite?

No humor. Even the stuff that was supposed to be funny was stupid. When the women were scrambling in the parlor because Bingley and Darcy came to call, it wasn’t even funny because it was so ugly. Were the Bennets really that slovenly and common that they would act like that?

The music was nice – for a new age CD. Period music anyone for a period production? Hello?

Computer generated scenery? I haven’t researched this, but so much of the outdoor scenery shots look completely computer generated. YUCK.

Lydia and Kitty? Which is which? I couldn’t tell them apart. And most of the time I couldn’t understand what they were saying.

Lady Catherine shows up in the middle of the night after the family is in bed? Um, propriety questions come to mind?

Elizabeth and Darcy meet at dawn? Hello? Propriety again? This felt completely contrived.

Bingley – WHAT A DORK!!! He wasn’t happy and easy going. He was an idiot!

Did I mention the STRINGY HAIR?????

What was the deal with Lizzy on the swing?

Was Mr. Bennet a gentleman of some means or a dirt farmer? Was that a pig running through the house?

Could some of the secondary characters be any less appealing? Georgianna? Col. Fitzwilliam? Uncle and Aunt Gardiner?

And speaking of secondary characters… What did they do to poor Caroline Bingley? Yes, she was a proud person, well aware of her station in life, but she was at least human in the book. This woman was so cold and shallow she wasn’t even believable.

Were the nudes at Pemberley really necessary? Elizabeth gazes on a portrait in the book, not a sculpture surrounded by nudes. (Reference earlier comment about production company.)

Have I mentioned the STRINGY HAIR????

Could there be any less chemistry between Elizabeth and Darcy? I mean, really? I could have cared less if these two got together there was so little tension and chemistry.

And speaking of tension… The tension between Elizabeth and Darcy in the A&E production was one of the best parts of the movie. This movie had none.

And, lastly, could the final scene be any dumber? I remember reading that they added it for the American audiences. Yuck.

So, there’s my take on this movie. On a scale of 1-10, I give it a 2 and I’m really being generous only because it seems like shame to drag anything associated with Jane Austen much lower than that. My recommendation? Avoid this production at all costs unless you are suffering from insomnia. Well, no, that won’t work either because it is such a tedious movie that your blood pressure will rise and you will never get to sleep.

Count sheep instead.

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Just Say “No” to Cookie Cutter Christian Living


Amy of Amy’s Humble Musings recently posted “A bath for baby.” The post started with this:

The answer to, “How do you do it all?” is simple. Nobody does it all. If you bake your own bread and mill your own wheat, then you probably don’t polish your silverware. If you polish your silverware, you probably don’t parse Latin verbs with your kids. If you do Latin with your kids, you probably don’t have a garden. If you have a garden and do all of the above, you probably don’t take a shower. And I’ll bet your garden has weeds.

To this I say a hearty Amen! And why? Because it is true that no one can do it all. I’ve written before in Simplifying Choices that although I think canning is very cool, I don’t can. I also don’t sew. I’ve needed to do other things that were more important. Life is about trade-offs and we all make them everyday.

As I thought about Amy’s post, I reflected on how vastly different our lives are. We discovered last year that we have the exact same wedding anniversary (including the year). However, our lives have taken vastly different directions over the past nine years. Some differences are simple like she lives in Florida and I live in Michigan. Can you say different weather? But there are more profound differences. She and her husband have five children. We have one that is 1/4 of the way here as I write this! Her husband is a rocket scientist and travels a lot. My husband is a graphic designer and is home 24/7. She gardens and I read gardening catalogs. I work part-time for pay in our home-based business and (to my knowledge) Amy does not work for pay. I’m sure if I knew Amy more, I could share more differences. But I think you get my point that we have completely different lives.

However, we are both seeking to follow Christ. There is no doubt when I read her blog that she wants to be found a faithful servant of Christ. And I hope that those who read my blog would also discern the same thing about me. But that seeking has led to such different lives. That is why the “cookie cutter” mentality regarding Christian living drives me crazy! Within the parameters of Biblical Christian living, there is such a wide variety of God honoring lives.

I think in a desire to “map out” the perfect blueprint for Christian living, many people forget that God creates individuals with unique temperaments, spiritual gifts, and callings. He simply does not call everyone to live cookie cutter lives and, as David would argue, He seems to go out of His way to ensure that those who promote cookie cutter Christian living are not successful in the long term. (That is another post.)

Very early on in our marriage, we decided that although we did not feel we were ready to have children, we wanted to be open to whatever plan God might have for us. So we gave God every opportunity to give us children earlier than we would probably have chosen to have them. And if you asked us, we would have also told you that we wanted probably two or three. MAYBE four on a good day. But we have always thought that given our temperaments and personalities that we would do best with just a couple of children. However, we also wanted to be open to whatever God might have for us that we might not be able to fully comprehend at that point.

Well, if you’ve been reading this blog for any amount of time you know that all our “openness” resulted in zilch, zero, nada children (until this year). God simply had a different plan for us. And just because we have one on the way, it doesn’t mean that there will be any more. This could be the only child we have. God may send another one. He may send two more. Is it possible that our intuition about what was best was right all along? I certainly do not regret the choice we made to be open to whatever God might do, but I do find it really interesting that given our ages it seems likely that our conviction that “less is more” and “later would be better than sooner” for us when it comes to children seems to be playing out in the way God is ordering our lives.

Going back to Amy’s quote, I also think that sometimes less is more because perhaps God DOES need us to do Latin and Greek with our child. Maybe this baby I am carrying is going to grow up and become a brilliant theologian who will light a fire like Jonathan Edwards. (Hey, a mom can dream, right?) Maybe our one child will need the focused attention of his mother and father in order to fulfill that calling that God has for him in the Kingdom. Could God raise up a great theologian in a house with ten children? Of course! But just because He can, doesn’t mean that He will. It could be His plan to raise up our child without siblings. And it could be that we will never know the why of His plan until heaven. But if God only gives us one child, there is a reason for it.

It could also be that God only has one child for us because He has other things He needs David and me to do in the Kingdom and raising more children would interfere with those other plans.

As was addressed at the beginning of this entry, NO ONE CAN DO IT ALL. Is raising godly children a powerful part of the Kingdom? Of course! Is blogging to encourage other Christians a powerful part of the Kingdom? It can be if it is what God has called me to do and I do it faithfully. Is blogging or writing articles to challenge/encourage others in their Christian walk as important as raising a child for Christ? YES, if it is what God has called me to do in His Kingdom.

I am sure there are Christians who would vehemently disagree with me and say that raising as many children as you can for Christ is the “highest calling” for a Christian. I disagree. The highest calling for a Christian is doing exactly what God calls YOU to do based on the unique life situation, spiritual gifts, and temperament He has blessed you with.

For some believers that will include raising many children. For some believers, it will mean not raising ANY children. For some believers it means spending an hour or more in prayer daily. For others it means caring for an elderly relative. For other believers is means being single when they would rather be married. For some believers it means being an ethical business person.

The highest calling is being faithful and doing our best with whatever God has given us to do as His Kingdom representatives.

So those who would seek to impose their “absolutely biblical Christian living blueprint” on all believers should be careful to make sure that they are not seeking to usurp the role of the Holy Spirit in the life of believers around them and excessively burdening their brothers and sisters in Christ with expectations that are not of God.

There are those who are zealous for the things of God to the point where they are unwilling to allow God to lead His children as He sees fit. It is almost as though they are convinced THEY are the Holy Spirit that people need. What a terrible day it will be for them when the discover that in their zeal to make sure everyone was doing everything “right”, they caused others to miss out on the unique blessings and callings God had for them in the Kingdom. How many gifts to the body of Christ have been lost because brothers and sisters in Christ labored under expectations and beliefs that God never intended them to carry?

May each of us go forward today in that delicate and critical balance of grace and truth.

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